Build a Wooden Arch Toy
Since my early days in architecture school, I have been fascinated with masonry and stone arches. Arches are a wonder of both simplicity and complexity. How seemingly impossible is it that a [...]
Turned Christmas Tree
Modify a skew chisel to bend a curl; then leave the shavings attached. These trees come all the way from the Erzgebirge (‘erts-gə-bir-gə). Actually, I made them in Wisconsin, but the unique [...]
Alphabet Puzzle
Dado a few sticks, then practice your ABCs. Think twice before you take this puzzle apart. It has six faces, each face has nine squares and each square is lettered. That’s two complete alphabets [...]
The Bow Box
Take your box-making and scroll saw skills to a new level. “Trompe l’oeil” is an old French phrase that literally means “it fools the eye.” Trompe l’oeil has a long tradition in the art [...]
Wine Bottle Stopper
Add sparkle outside and protect what’s inside. Whether your wine bottle is half-empty or half-full, here’s an elegant way to preserve the contents until you answer that age-old question. You can [...]
Card Scraper Organizer
A scraper’s edge is very delicate. I used to keep my card scrapers loose in a drawer, but to avoid nicking their edges, I decided to make a simple stand for them. I cut a few slots in a [...]
USNS Comfort and Mercy, A Scale Model, Part 5
After I finished painting the waterline, the faux keel, and the funnels I turned to the Red Crosses and the bridge’s windows. My initial idea for the windows was to craft a stamp of a window [...]
USNS Comfort and Mercy, A Scale Model, Part 4
Milk Paint is one of my most favorite paints. I like it for the fact that it is a water-based medium, that it dries to a hard and chalky-like surface, that it is easy to sand, and that it is …
USNS Comfort and Mercy, A Scale Model, Part 3
After I finished shaping the hull of the USNS Comfort (read about it in Part 1 and Part 2) I turned to make all the elements that construct the superstructure. Below (Sketch #1) are a few of my [...]
USNS Comfort and Mercy, A Scale Model, Part 2
Last time I showed how I designed and shaped the top, or deck view of the USNS Comfort. Today I would like to show how I continued to shape the ship’s blank on the bandsaw and then refine the …
USNS Comfort and Mercy, A Scale Model, Part 1
As a resident of New York I was heartened by the sight of the USNS Comfort, the beautiful white ship marked with the emblem of the red cross, as she rolled in the NY Harbor to help in the fight [...]
Factory Cart Coffee Table
This reproduction of an industrial workhorse will give you years of use in your living room. At the turn-of-the-century, no factory existed without several industrial carts (also known as trucks) [...]
